AWhen the regional reform, which was heavily criticized in Büdingen in particular, and with it the merger with the district of Friedberg, could no longer be prevented, a dispute immediately arose about the naming of the newly formed district. In Friedberg they proposed Friedberg-Büdingen, and from the Büdingen side came the no less imaginative counter-proposal, Büdingen-Friedberg. The state of Hesse soon put a stop to further discussions and set the name Wetteraukreis. Even if some communities are more likely to be assigned to the Vogelsberg and the Taunus in terms of their natural environment, the administrative designation still stands for one of the oldest German cultural landscapes and was therefore not such a bad naming after all.
Favored by fertile soil and a moderate climate, people were drawn to this area as early as the Stone Age. Around two and a half thousand years ago, one of the centers of the Celts developed in the Wetterau, on the Glauberg there was probably a seat of rulers, and in what is now the area of Bad Nauheim the Celts operated a salt production facility which, according to experts, was one of the largest early historical plants of this type counts. Because the Wetterau is also blessed with numerous mineral springs.
Although history was never written in this part of the country, it was at least once the border of a world empire. The Romans set up camps in the area, and when building their border fortifications they chose an arc that included the fertile Wetterau plain. Manors settled in the hinterland of the bases, which ensure the supply of troops, and thanks to the flourishing agriculture, their owners achieved some prosperity.
A still or again original nature
After the Romans withdrew, the Alamanni, Franks and Staufers, among others, settled, influential noble families of the Middle Ages were drawn to the “granary of the empire”, which also benefited from its geographical location in the center of Germany, through which important routes of the empire led, which boosted trade.
With all this, it is no coincidence that the Wetterau can show so much evidence of settlement history that is otherwise only the case in a few areas. From the treasures of the Celts that were found during excavations on the Glauberg, to relics on and around the Wetterau Limes, which is part of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, pretty palaces and fortified castles, to often well-preserved townscapes Buildings from the older and more recent past.
Wetterau
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From Celts, Romans and tourists
As far as the landscape of the Wetterau is concerned, it is not just the agricultural tradition that manifests itself in bright yellow rapeseed fields in spring, grain and sugar beet fields in later seasons. In some places it is still or again original nature, which offers habitats and refuges for numerous animal and plant species. Extensive meadow orchards with thousands of trees, making the Wetteraukreis one of the regions in Hesse with the most orchards. On sun-drenched slopes and rocky outcrops there are blooming nutrient-poor grasslands that are rarely found elsewhere.